Customer Reviews

Six Compositions(Quartet)1984

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I just wanted to bring attention to the fact that the previous review seems to be referring to the other 'six compositions' collection and that this CD appears to be the one that features Marilyn Crispell on piano, John Lindberg on bass and
Gerry Hemingway on drums.

Based on the album cover appearing above -- at least currently, as I write -- which features a work by Wassily Kandinsky, I can tell you this was recorded in October 1981, and originally released in 1982 on the Antilles label, then a division of Island Records. This quartet features Anthony Davis on piano, Mark Helias on bass, and Ed Blackwell on drums. Yes! Perhaps there will be a re-release one day. That is, after the re-release of '75/76's Montreux/Berlin Concerts (which feature the Holland/Altschul rhythm section).

Braxton...Well, anyway...Let's start with this: his music is the last coming out of the "Jazz" side of the Afro - American continuum that feels like an inevitable development of that tradition to me. Not that I don't sense the necessity of Steve Coleman, Greg Osby and beyond. But Braxton has this, like, heroic, project. He takes on the whole thing and examines it - sometimes on the operating table, sometimes under a magnifying glass, sometimes on the battlefield. Take the 3rd track - Composition 115. Here's a brief look at what is addressed: the concept of "swing" 8th notes versus straight 8th notes, swinging steady pulse versus constantly mutating ideas of pulse, arpeggiated be-boppy chords versus atonal lines - taking some linear notions from not - fully - examined Dolphy-esque concepts, Cecil Taylor's ensemble work...with that famous nod to Tristano and Marsh. All that and more...I guess the only thing missing is some connection to the Miles-ian post Bitches Brew world. Don't hear that...
Every track is Whitmaneque or Melvillesque in terms of all that tries to take on and include. Therefore, this CD gets my Stamp of Approval as a Work of Genius, a Great American Novel...Do I love to listen to it? In a way...Its brilliance cannot be denied. But...let's talk about the band a little. Crispell, Lindberg, Hemingway - these folks are so pliant, so virtuosic. Face it, they're amazing. However, the previous bunch (Holland, Altshul, George Lewis, Ray Anderson,etc) was better in terms of their ability to subvert that Jazz-playing Poindexter side of Braxton's musical personality - the side that produced Steve Lehman, Tyshawn Sorey, etc. Not that I don't think that's a GOOD side. But it needs a little subverting, now and then. And this group is a little too Cerberus - like: perked ears, waiting for instruction and Godlike inspiration (OK, you want a better, clearer analogy? Alright then, guarding the gates of this particular, lovable, musical Hell...).

"Composition No. 40B" is a great piece with a furious alto sax solo - it wouldn't sound out of place on Dave Holland's "Conference of the Birds". "Composition 40A" is a little more abstract and sounds nothing like "40B"; I wish I understood Braxton's numbering system so I could understand the relations of one work to the next. The rest of the recording finds Braxton working his way through an arsenal of woodwinds accompanied by Anthony Davis on piano, Mark Helias on bass, and Ed Blackwell on drums. The songs (composed between 1974 and 1976) are quirky and abstract - but not too much so; this recording is a good introduction to Braxton's music.